Grizzlies, Nets collide in Memphis

Basketball Betting Lines

03/08/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Memphis Grizzlies will attempt to put their current home woes behind in this evening's clash with a New Jersey Nets squad that enters FedEx Forum off a rare positive result.

Memphis has lost eight consecutive contests as the home team since besting the defending world champion Los Angeles Lakers on February 1. The Grizzlies have not dropped nine in a row in their own building since a club-record 11-game losing streak from February 16-March 31, 1996, when the franchise was then located in Vancouver.

The Grizzlies had put together back-to-back road wins over New Orleans and Chicago prior to Saturday's home test with San Antonio, but couldn't keep up with the Spurs in a 102-92 defeat.

"We have played a different caliber of teams away than we have at home," Memphis head coach Lionel Hollins said of his team's drought at FedEx Forum. "We just haven't been able to raise our caliber of play. We execute better on the road. We make a better effort and better decisions on the road."

Memphis had drawn within 89-83 on an O.J. Mayo basket midway through the fourth quarter, but the Spurs countered with a 9-2 burst to take a 13-point lead and the Grizzlies never got the deficit closer than eight the rest of the way. Mayo ended with 23 points in the loss, with Marc Gasol amassing 17 points and 13 rebounds for Memphis.

The Grizzlies, four games back of Portland for the eighth and final playoff seed in the Western Conference, will try to bounce back against a Nets team that owns an NBA-worst 7-55 record and is a dismal 4-27 on the road. However, New Jersey has actually won its last three times as the visitor and is fresh off Saturday's 113-93 triumph over the rival New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

The Nets trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half but dominated the Knicks over the remainder of the game in halting a three-game skid. An ability to shoot from long range made the comeback possible, as New Jersey sank 14- of-24 three-point attempts on the evening.

Devin Harris made 13-of-21 overall shots for 31 points to pace the Nets, while Courtney Lee returned from a three-game absence due to a sprained ankle and delivered 25 points.

"The second team was huge for us," said Harris. "We got off to a very lethargic start. Those guys came in a did a great job getting us back in the game."

Brook Lopez finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds for New Jersey, which will be aiming for its first four-game road winning streak since November 26- December 6, 2009.

Saturday's win kicked off a five-game trek for the Nets, with matchups at Dallas, Oklahoma City and Houston upcoming. The team may not have forward Yi Jianlian for any of those tests, however, after the seven-footer suffered a sprained left ankle in the first quarter against the Knicks.

New Jersey has prevailed in two of its last three visits to FedEx Forum but was a 104-94 loser to the Grizzlies when these teams squared off in the Garden State on February 21. Rudy Gay led Memphis with 29 points in that one, with Mayo coming through with 24 points and seven assists.

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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES

NFL Football Sports Betting

Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.

New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.

His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.

HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.

The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.

RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.

First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.

The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.

These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.

New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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